Friday, June 15, 2012

I mentioned the other day that, for a long time, GDW's Azhanti High Lightning was a product of which I could never managed to obtain a copy. I'm curious to know if anyone else has a similarly elusive "white whale" gaming product that they've hunted for and never managed to acquire. If so, share it in the comments below.

93 comments:

I've always been on the hunt for the Oriental Adventures AD&D 2E supplement. Though, I must confess that I haven't ever tried that hard to find it, and am only somewhat sure it exists. I know there was an Oriental Adventures book, but my memory may be playing tricks on me as to whether or not it was ever adapted to 2E rules.

I'd like to have a copy of most of those nice little teeny mini 1st ed AD&D reprint replica books that some Italian publisher did a long time ago. I'd like to have a copy of "The Thieves World Companion" book from Chaosium. And a copy of 3rd edition Pendragon and Knights Adventurous. Other than that, not really. 8)

And as for "things I'd like to have actually surface so's I could get a copy", I'd have liked Paizo's "Savage Tide" and "Age of Worms" to get the same hardback treatment gotten by "Shackled City" so i could get a copy of that.

And I'd like to have a PDF version of the /first/ printing (not revised edition) of 5th Edition HERO.

The poster TSR put out with the Trampier cover art from the 1st edition of Gamma World. It says Gamma World Is Here! On it and I'd pay good many to own it. I almost sagged Gary's personal copy in an auction a few months ago but lost out in the last minute. Been trying to get my hands on it for almost 10 years now :/

I have been looking for a copy of Open Design's steam and brass - only a few were made, its out of print, and it contains information about the city I base my campaign in. Yes, yes, it's for 3.5, but its tremendously rare.

I've been fortunate enough to have been patient (read "cheap") and waited for years to get certain items. In some cases, I decided to turn right around and sell them, but Divine Right, and the original Crimson Skies were keepers.

There was a bound-RPG where you began life as an amoeba. So detailed in it's small print it made Chivalry & Sorcery easy! The name, of couse, eludes me. Anyone know of this? I believe a biologist created the game - over 100 pages, early 80s era.

I'm relativity new to the old school and I don't read tons of sourcebooks, so there's a lot of fish in the sea for me. I can fire a harpoon in any direction and hit something new and awesome but if I had a white whale sourcebook it would be the 1e core books which I've picked up recently.

Without a doubt, "Lair of the spider mother".http://www.nobleknight.com/ProductDetail.asp_Q_ProductID_E_-1091040739_A_InventoryID_E_2147841975_A_ProductLineID_E_-953532404_A_ManufacturerID_E_384375319_A_CategoryID_E_901_A_GenreID_E_

Sorry, you misunderstand. I have a copy of 1st edition Fantasy Hero, but that's not what I was talking about. I was talking about the _first_ printing of the Fifth Edition HERO core rulebook. When they did the _second_ printing of the 5th edition, they revised its contents, and the PDF of the 5th edition rules is of that second printing. I don't want that version for my PDF, I want a PDF of the _first_ printing of the 5th edition. (Because I want to use that first printing as my reference edition and so share PDFs for assistance out to potential players for when we play.)

A while ago my White Whale was Griffin Mountain (having drooled over the descriptions and praise in years past). Fortunately I was able to get a copy at a reasonable price.

Now, possibly the 1st 2 modules of something called "Compleat Dungeon Master Series" (which if you google, in quotes, I only get an old Usenet email of mine ... lol). I have 3 and 4. From the UK in the A4 format.

This perhaps speaks more to my very limited budget rather than any sort of actual rarity, but I have yet to find a copy of the Rules Cyclopedia (My favorite first party D&D) at a reasonable (Under $50) price.

What i really want is a copy of "Aeon" its a super limited release of a game White Wolf was forced to renamed "Trinity" that had a really odd design. I'm a huge fan of that game line and it is the only one i don't have.

For me it's MB's Space Crusade and Hero Quest, both as near to mint as possible (and both in danish... it's a nostalgia thing...) other then that I think it would be as near to mint Space Hulk and the deathwing expansion pack (those where never printed in danish...)

As for D&D it would be advanced 1st. ed. DMG, Players and Monster Manual... (I'm thinking of getting the wotc reprints)

At one time Expedition to the Barrier Peaks and 4th Ed. Gamma World could have counted. I could bought both years earlier, but could only find them at a king's ransom.

But out of the blue a friend randomly sent me a copy of Barrier Peaks which he no longer wanted. And late last year a copy of GW went on sale at Amazon for <$60, so score!

I guess the only thing I'm still holding out hope for is a legally obtained copy of the Dragon CD ROM archive. Passed up the chance a decade ago due to financial circumstances and regretted it ever since.

Right now it would the Otosan Uchi boxed set for Legends of the Five Rings, but there are a couple of older games I would love to look at. One is Woof Meow, the game of cats and dogs, and the crayfish & doodads RPG. Weird, but I am just intrigued.

For over ten years, my white whale was Brotherhood of the Bolt from the Companions. I finally scored that one just this past December. Another one is the wargame Siege from Standard Games. One of these days I'll just break down and blow $100 on it.

I have a few. I mentioned in that earlier thread The Arctic Environment for Traveller. Add to that Lords of the Middle Sea, a neat wargame from Chaosium, and In The Labyrinth. I can't think of others at the moment, though I am sure that there are more.

Is this the wrong moment to say that I have two copies (one with the 1st edition rules, but missing one chit, and one with the 2nd, and complete), and used to have a third which got destroyed over the years?

Easy: the hardcover book The Lost and The Damned, Volume 2 of the Realms of Chaos series for the 1st edition Warhammer/WH40K. I passed on the chance to buy it in the store 20+ years ago and have been kicking myself ever since.

There's not a lot of old stuff on my white whale list. Possibly a copy of the Military Races expansion for Fifth Cycle. Maybe some of the old SPI games that got lost when moving. Some of the garage-press RPGs of the late 70s and early 80s. A copy of the Orilla supplement for 3rd edition Starguard. Replacing some of the games that got stolen from me. Nothing really exceptional and nothing that I'd actually go hunting for.

Most of my white whales are actually modern stuff where I can't justify the shipping and handling fees to myself. I could get a copy of The Gray Papers for Agone for US$5 - and US$90 for shipping. Or a copy of Ironclaw STC for US$50 (and US$60 for shipping since they are not using the normal game distribution channels). These are the things that inspire more debate. Wanting the next new thing is my white whale!

Yeah, I posted on this thread on Friday and my original comment has disappeared. I'll just reiterate and say my "white whale" was an affordable copy of Gamma World 2E and I was able to snag that a few months ago. The one that's eluded me though is a print copy of Marvel Super Heroes "The Ultimate Powers" book.

My two "white whales" are supplements that were teased by the publishers but never actually released: the "Elementals" sourcebook for Villains & Vigilantes, and the "Amerind Empire" sourcebook for The Morrow Project.

YES! Even though I've pretty much obtained all of these that I want, I would still be awestruck to find what you describe. It took me quite a few years to get my Metagaming collection, to include all the early Space Gamers, Interplay mags., etc., along with the games themselves.

I suppose if I had a "White Whale", it would be to stumble upon the final draft manuscripts of "Conquerors of Underearth" and other Microquests that were due to be released about the time Howie closed up shop and fled under a rock, or the unmodified TFT/LBTM versions of "City of the Sacred Flame" (i.e. "Soldier City: Shaylle") and "In the Tyrant's Demesne" (i.e. "Intrigue in Plaize")

Heck, if any of the draft manuscripts for some of the other to be released micros were available, such as the follow on modules to Starleader: Assault I would be very much interested as well...

A copy of Credo (Chaosium) and City of Sorcerors (Standard Games). My copies of both of these went walkies some time ago. I'd add a copy of Credo II except I only played the prototype of this - it never was published.

For a while it was the teo Realms of Chaos books but i snagged.them at a decent price. I also used to want the LBBS but luckilly i got.them on PDF whenstill available.and that will do me.

Now its all "never released" stuff i crave. City of Sin for D&D 3E in particilar.bugs.me as it was completed but unreleased for other reasons. Similarly i know some stuff was done on the supplements for LUGs Dune but for fear of lawsuit.the authors.cant release it.

I have the pdf, but I like to sit and read a hardcopy, as I'm slightly backward as I don't have a tablet or reader, my smartphone is too small to see and I hate stiting in front of a monitor - hurts my back.

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